Tell HN: The issues of Twitter are not a technical problem to solve

I am seeing so many posts here about Twitter and it's possible alternatives. People are going on and on about

- What could be the next big thing

- What they want from new platform

- What tech stack they would use and so on

It's like there's fire in the house and all of us are discussing how to improve fire extinguisher design. The issues of Twitter are not a technical problem to solve. No amount of algorithms can improve human behavior on any platform. It's good that we at least see the issues that have surfaced because of Twitter and other platforms. We now know people

- can have extremely polarized views

- feel the need to defend their polarized but flawed viewpoint at any cost

- are virtue signaling others but refuse to take any accountability whatsoever

- have less and less attention span

- only consume the content that aligns with their views

I can list another dozen issues but you get the point. Instead of trying to fix Twitter we need to look into why these things are happening. It does not seem like a technical problem that the HN crowd wants to solve. It's more of a personal, interpersonal and a social problem which needs extensive research, surveys to find the "why" and how we might be able to fix it or avoid it from happening again.

What I want is pretty simple (and isn't for everyone): I just want a spot I can keep tabs on the broader goings on of other people in infosec.

Hacker News has a great community, features informative discourse, and doesn't suffer from the ailments that you list (or suffers from them much less than Twitter).

Therefore we should invite all Twitter users to join our healthy community. Everybody wins.

Edit: I hoped it would be obvious, but the second sentence of this comment was supposed to be sarcastic.

> surveys to find the "why" and how we might be able to fix it or avoid it from happening again

A 2-party system will always create polarization and lead to black/white thinking in all aspects of life I think.

As a European moving to USA, the part I miss most about back home is the willingness to think of all issues as “Well there’s 5+ sides to this, let’s discuss”. I think that outlook stems directly from our multiparty system where you usually have more than 5 parties in power who need to debate and come to a conclusion.

In Europe, even the fringiest of movements (like the pirate party) often get at least 1 seat in parliament. This may be more symbolic than practical, but it does lead to there being at least someone, somewhere, who says “Yo, this has an impact on fair use! We should discuss”

edit: To expand on why I think this is the why, I’ve found that non-US Twitter is a lot less polarized. There’s the occasional hot button issue that a politician brings up to start a fight, yes, but on US twitter everything gets polarized.

edit2: Perhaps the easiest solution is to ban politicians from Twitter. They’re the ones usually starting shit and trolling for a ruckus.

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